Heinz Harmel

Heinz Harmel (29 June 1906-2 September 2000) was a Brigadefuhrer of the Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany during World War II. He notably led the 10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg during the war.

Biography
Heinz Harmel was born in Metz, Elsass-Lothringen, German Empire (now Alsace-Lorraine, France) on 29 June 1906. He volunteered for the Waffen-SS in 1935 and served in an SS regiment during the Battle of France in 1940, later taking part in the Balkans campaign and Operation Barbarossa. In December 1941, Harmel took command of his own SS infantry regiment on the Eastern Front. His regiment took part in the Third Battle of Kharkov in 1943, and Harmel was given command of the 10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg in early 1944 after taking a divisional commanders' training course. In the summer of 1944, his division fought in the Battle of Normandy against the Western Allies, and his forces suffered heavy losses while trying to break through to the Falaise Pocket. His forces withdrew into the Netherlands, and he received the Iron Cross after defeating the Allies' "Operation Market Garden" assault at Nijmegen. His division established a bridgehead at Alsace in order to join the Colmar Pocket, and the failure of the December 1944-January 1945 offensive in Alsace led to his division being transferred to the Eastern Front. Harmel fought in Pomerania and Brandenburg during the East Pomeranian Offensive, and his division was later transferred to Army Group Center. He was dismissed from command by Field Marshal Ferdinand Schoerner for refusing to attack Ivan Konev's Soviet front, and he later commanded a Waffen-SS battle group. He surrendered to the Allies in Austria and wound up in British captivity, and he died in 2000 at the age of 94.